“To make it as simple as possible, people, please, unless it’s for an essential reason, stay home because the situation is extremely serious right now,” said Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford. during a press conference Wednesday. before mass vaccination begins it will be the difference between life and death for thousands of people. ”
“Hospitalizations that occur as a result of these variants are taking over our hospitals,” said Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott.
Canadian public health officials say a rapidly spreading coronavirus variant is now likely to be dominant in many parts of the country, and worrying variants are making young people sicker and more vulnerable. hospital.
“This is not the news that any of us wanted, but hospitalizations are increasing, ICU beds are filling up, variants are spreading and even people who had become convinced that they didn’t need to worry are puts sick, “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at a news conference Tuesday, adding that this is a” very serious “third wave of the pandemic.
In Ontario, non-essential retail stores, including malls, will close in-person shopping with only grocery stores, pharmacies and gardens open to the public.
The dining rooms of restaurants, personal care services and gyms were already closed throughout the province, as last week the provincial official closed many places but failed to fulfill the order to stay at home.
Ford has said it was concerned about the mental health of 14 million residents.
Toronto and the adjacent Peel region moved students to e-learning earlier this week just before a planned spring break. The Ford government says its priority is to keep schools open across the province.
Ford also imposed the province’s third state of emergency since the pandemic began.
Health experts, including hospitals and medical associations in the province, have been calling for more restrictions for at least two weeks, saying the blocking measures were not enough.
Although vaccine doses have been scarce in Canada, the launch is intensifying now and Ontario says it had set a record for vaccinations on Tuesday, administering more than 100,000 doses.
Ford said the province will begin deploying mobile vaccination equipment to all hot spot communities like Toronto, including providing vaccines to teachers and other education workers starting next week.
Outside Canada’s Atlantic provinces, the third wave of the pandemic is affecting hospitals in most of the country.
“While COVID-19 continues to affect people of all ages in Canada, infection rates are higher among people between the ages of 20 and 39. In addition, we are seeing an increase in the number of adults, under 60 years in treatment for COVID-19 in the hospital, including intensive care units, “Canada’s head of public health, Dr. Theresa Tam, said in a statement on Wednesday.
In his statement, Tam stressed the threat that the variants would spread and cause more serious infections and diseases.
“While B.1.1.7 continues to account for most of the worrying variants in Canada and has probably replaced the original virus in some areas, there has been a worrying increase in P.1 cases in recent weeks. Early evidence suggests that the P.1 variant can reduce the effectiveness of vaccines, making it even more important to control their spread, ”he said.